VOA慢速英语2019 动物医院拯救受到城市伤害的野生动物（在线收听）

Animal Hospital Saves Wild Animals from the City

Just outside the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, a veterinary hospital is saving wild animals that live nearby.

就在南非约翰内斯堡市外，一家兽医医院正在拯救生活在附近的野生动物。

I'd love to be in the bush, but I get more cases here, said Nicci Wright, a veterinary rehabilitation specialist.

“我喜欢在不发达的乡下，但在这里我得到更多病例，”兽医康复专家尼奇·赖特说。

Wright and Karin Lourens, a doctor trained to care for animals, set up the hospital two years ago. Since then, they have treated about 4,000 creatures.

赖特和接受过动物护理训练的医生佳琳·劳伦斯在两年前成立了这家医院。从那时起，他们已经治疗大约4,000只动物。

Both Johannesburg and Pretoria, the South Africa capital, are expanding. The growth of the two cities is squeezing out animals that are native to the area.

约翰内斯堡和南非首都比勒陀利亚都在扩张。这两个城市的发展正在让该地区土生土长的动物的生存面临困境。

The wildlife hospital mainly treats small mammals and large hunting birds that are injured.

野生动物医院主要治疗受伤的小型哺乳动物和大型猎鸟。

The hospital now has about 160 patients. They include six leopard tortoises, a toothless 12-foot python and an otter that was taken far from her natural surroundings when someone tried to keep her as a pet.

医院现有约160只病患动物，包括6只豹龟，一只无牙的12英尺长的蟒蛇，以及一只被人带出其自然生活环境并试图将之当作宠物的水獭。

Many animals coming to the hospital have not only physical injuries. They show signs of stress from being hurt by people. Some creatures, like the endangered pangolin, become fearful when they hear a male human voice or smell cigarette smoke. That makes the animals remember the people who hunted them, said Wright.

许多来到医院的动物不仅有身体伤害，还表现出因被人伤害而感到压力的迹象。有些生物，如濒临灭绝的穿山甲，当听到男性的声音或闻到香烟烟雾时会变得害怕。赖特称，这让动物们记住了猎杀它们的人。

Everything is terrifying for them, she said.

“一切都让它们感到害怕，”她说。

In a wooden cage on the hospital floor, a young pangolin begins to move around, rubbing against the box. It is feeding time at the hospital.

在医院地板上的一个木制笼子里，一个穿山甲幼崽开始四处移动，蹭着笼子。这是医院的喂食时间。

A volunteer will walk him on a nearby hill where the pangolin will search for ants to eat. Pangolins are one of the world's most heavily trafficked animals because of demand for their scales in Asia.

一名志愿者将带它去到附近的小山丘上，穿山甲将在那里寻找蚂蚁吃。 由于亚洲对穿山甲鳞片的需求旺盛，穿山甲是世界上被贩卖最频繁的动物之一。

Along with five full-time employees, the hospital gets help from volunteers like Lauren Beckley, who lives nearby. Beckley cares for young monkeys, who hug her. Their own mothers have been shot or killed in auto accidents.

除了五名全职员工外，医院还有志愿者的帮助，比如住在附近的劳伦·贝克利。贝克利照顾小猴子，它们会抱她。猴子们的母亲死于枪杀或车祸。

When the animals are ready to return to the wild, Wright and her team work with nature centers around the country to take the animals to a new, safer home.

当动物们准备好返回野外时，赖特和她的团队与全国各地的自然中心合作，将动物们带到一个新的、更安全的家园。

Words in This Story

veterinary – adj. relating to the medical care and treatment of animals

in the bush - expression (especially in Australia, Africa, and Canada) wild or undeveloped countryside

rehabilitate - v. to bring back to a normal, healthy condition after a sickness, injury, or drug problem

leopard tortoise - n. a large and tortoise marked with yellow and black found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape

python - n. a very large snake that kills the animals it eats by wrapping itself around them

otter - n. an animal that has dark brown fur and webbed feet with claws and that eats fish

pet – n. an animal that is kept for pleasure instead of usefulness

pangolin - n. a mammal that has a body covered with horny overlapping scales and a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites

scales - n. small thin plates that cover the bodies of some animals